


Dilemmas of a Party Dude

by SewerSurfin



Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 1987), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-27
Updated: 2016-05-27
Packaged: 2018-07-10 11:08:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6981892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SewerSurfin/pseuds/SewerSurfin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Parties are Michelangelo's thing. He is the party dude, after all. But with Kala's birthday fast approaching, Michelangelo finds that even a party dude needs help sometimes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Raphael

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve been wanting to write a Mikey/Kala piece for a while now...and this one came to me. So obviously, this takes place in the ‘87 ‘verse, sometime in the second half of season 10 (but the sky isn’t red, it’s a nice shade of blue XD).

Raphael wasn’t what his brothers would call the most observant of the quartet, but a few minutes into playing a video game with Michelangelo, and even the red banded ninja could tell that something was bothering his younger brother. The normally optimistic mutant was pressing on the controls half-heartedly, his expression distant and thoughtful.

After the tenth time in which Raphael had a perfect KO against Michelangelo’s Sub-Zero -- and thus breaking the high score in which the orange masked ninja held every position -- Raphael dropped his controller in frustration and glared at his distracted sibling.

“Alright, Michelangelo, what gives!?!” Raphael asked, his voice stern. He cringed internally at how much he sounded like Leonardo.

Michelangelo stared at his controller, running his right thumb nervously over the buttons. Despite knowing that Michelangelo was anxious about something, the lack of a response frustrated the volatile Raphael.

He waved a hand in front of Michelangelo’s face. “Earth to the space cadet!” he spoke a notch higher.

Michelangelo sighed heavily as he continued to stare fixedly at his game remote. His posture was slumped and he was leaning his forearms on his thighs.

“I spoke to Kala on the interdimensional communicator today, bro,” Michelangelo replied despondently.

Raphael’s eyes widened slightly in surprise. Speaking to Kala normally put Michelangelo in such high spirits that he would spend hours in the kitchen baking pizzas and whistling to himself.

“O...K…” Raphael said dubiously, drawing the word out. “I thought you _liked_ talking to her?”

“Oh, I _do_ , dude…” Michelangelo answered without hesitation, a bit of a dreamy tone at the fringes of his voice. “But I realized that I have a major problemo.”

Raphael crossed his arms across his plastron.

"You finally realized that you’re a mutant turtle and she’s an alien from an alternate dimension?”

Michelangelo straightened himself up, glanced over at his elder brother, and scrunched his snout in confusion.

“Um...no, dude,” he said, puzzled, totally missing Raphael’s point.

“You’re. A. Mutant. Turtle,” Raphael enunciated each word. “She’s Not.”

“No duh!” Michelangelo shot back. “But what does that have to do with anything? Your girlfriend is a mutant lizard. Not. A. Turtle.”

Raphael narrowed his eyes. “At least she’s a mutant…”

“And Leonardo fell in love with Lotus, a human kunoichi-dudette...and Donatello…”

“...is in the middle of a torrid love affair with his machines,” Raphael grinned playfully as he held his hands up in defeat. “Alright, you got me.” He knew Michelangelo would not be swayed in the matter. “So what’s the ‘major problemo’?” He put his brother’s trademark words in air quotes.

“Well...y’see…” Michelangelo began sheepishly. “Kala just told me that her first birthday is coming up...and she’s mondo excited about it…” Michelangelo’s gaze turned back downwards and he picked on his right knee band nervously. “I - I just want to make it fantabuloso for her...but I don’t know where to start.”

Raphael chuckled. His emotional brother could get worked up about the silliest things.

“Michelangelo, that’s all? You’re the party dude! This can’t be _that_ difficult for you...You always make my birthday at least tolerable, and that’s saying something since I _hate_ that day…”

Raphael’s voice trailed off as something odd about what his brother had said clicked in his mind. His jaw slacked for a moment in shock before saying, “Whoa, whoa, whoa...wait. _Hold the phone_. Did I hear you correctly? _First birthday_? I’ve heard of robbing the cradle, Michelangelo, but I think you’ve stolen it before it was even manufactured!”

“No, dude, it’s not like that, Kala’s actually very close to our age,” Michelangelo explained in a hurried tone, his cheeks flushing in embarrassment. “It’s, like, the first birthday she’s ever been able to celebrate. When Krang was in control of Dimension X, parties and fun were outlawed. Now that’s he’s outta the picture, the Neutrinos are free to party hardy!”

“Ok, whew,” Raphael wiped a hand across his forehead in an exaggerated display of relief. “I was worried about you there for a second” -- his voice dipped lower and snarkier -- “even more so than I usually am.”

Michelangelo shook his head.

“Do you have any suggestions for what I can do for her? You at least have a girlfriend who can celebrate birthdays…”

“Well…” Raphael mused for a moment before continuing, “if you ask me, the perfect birthday would be a night of laughs. I took Mona Lisa to the House of HaHa for her last birthday, and she loved it. She was really grateful.” He shot his brother a wolfish grin. “And when I say grateful...I mean reeeeeeally grateful.”

“ _Dude_ ,” Michelangelo’s brow crinkled in disgust and he scooted over as far away from Raphael as he could go on the couch. “That was way more than I needed to know.”

Raphael shrugged nonchalantly. “What? She took me out for a pizza, Michelangelo. What’s so weird about that? What were you thinking?”

Raphael paused for a few moments before his eyes grew as wide as pizza pans.

“Hey! Get your mind outta the gutter, bub! That stuff would never make it by the censors!”

Michelangelo waved a dismissive hand at his brother and rose to his feet.

“Whatever, dude. Aside for the going out for pizza, I don’t think that’s all really my style anyway. I’ll catch you later. I need to think about this more.”

Michelangelo headed in the direction of the kitchen. Pizza always helped him think.

“Careful with that thinking thing,” Raphael called to his brother’s retreating form. “Don’t want you to hurt yourself.”

“Not laughing, dude,” Michelangelo retorted.

“That’s why you need the House of HaHa…” Raphael had added onto his last comment, but the orange clad ninja tuned him out. He wasn’t in the mood for his typical banter exchanges with Raphael. He sighed as he entered the kitchen. Why was he having such a hard time with this birthday thing? Raphael was right...parties were his thing...like pizza and comics...and Kala meant a lot to him...what if he...blew it?


	2. Leonardo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Raphael wasn’t much help...how about Leonardo?

Leonardo was sitting at the kitchen table in his customary rigid, perfect posture. He was polishing one katana with a cloth, the other carefully placed on the table. Every few strokes, he would remove the cloth and check the kitchen lights’ reflection on the metal, meticulously checking for any missed spots.

Michelangelo went to grab a frozen pizza from the freezer, but was cut off by Leonardo saying, “I just put one in the oven for lunch. It will be done in about 10 minutes.”

Nodding in acknowledgment, Michelangelo grabbed a chair, turned it around, and plunked himself down, folding his arms on the top of the backrest.

“You should watch your posture, Michelangelo. A ninja should always be conscious of his form,” Leonardo admonished in an authoritative tone.

A slight scowl ghosted over Michelangelo’s features, but he complied with his leader’s wishes. He flipped the chair around and positioned himself with the poise he was sure Leonardo wanted.

 _Now I just need some tea in a dainty cup and remember to stick out my pinky._ Michelangelo joked to himself.

Quickly remembering his current dilemma, his mood rapidly deflated.

_Leonardo is bodacious at coming up with plans...maybe he could help…_

“Leonardo?” Michelangelo questioned his older brother, breaking the silence that had fallen between the two. “Could I ask your advice on something, dude?”

The turtle in blue placed down his katana and interlaced his fingers upon the tabletop. His eyes lit up in a mix of curiosity and elation. It was rare that his carefree brother ever came to him for advice. Leonardo had a tiny glimmer of hope that Michelangelo was going to start taking his ninja training more seriously and had come to him for advice on that. What else could Michelangelo be asking him about?

Giving his youngest brother his undivided attention, he replied, “Of course.”

Michelangelo paused for a moment and shifted uncomfortably in his chair. The wooden legs of the seat scraped upon the concrete floor of the subterranean kitchen. The orange clad ninja was not accustomed to having this sort of conversation with his eldest sibling.

“Well…”Michelangelo started, “Kala’s birthday is coming up.” He failed to notice the momentary disappointment which flickered in Leonardo’s eyes like an elusive firefly. “I’m not sure what to do for her, bro...and I want it to be...special…”

The pleading desperation in Michelangelo’s voice struck a long buried chord with Leonardo. His heart clenched as memories of Lotus Blossom flitted through his mind. His expression softened and grew wistful, losing its disciplined edge. He had never been able to convince the fiercely independent kunoichi to stay with them... _him_...but if Michelangelo could have a chance at happiness…

“If it were up to me,” Leonardo began, “I would share our rich ninja heritage with her so she can get a new appreciation for you and our family; to strengthen your bond. Maybe you could take Kala to the Japanese history exhibit at the museum and get her an authentic katana.”

Michelangelo pursed his beak, weighing his response. He appreciated Leonardo’s effort, but it wasn’t quite what he was searching for. “No offence, leader-dude, but...I don’t think Kala would dig that.”

“Even with Krang gone, his remaining factions are still making Dimension X a place of war, Michelangelo,” Leonardo explained. “A katana is a gift that is both functional and practical. What better way to show her how much you care?”

Michelangelo had to admit that Leonardo’s logic did make sense, but it just didn’t _fit_. That idea applied to him and Kala was like trying to fit a rectangle pizza in a round pan.

“Leonardo…” Michelangelo began, the rest of his sentence trailing away at the end.

Leonardo sighed. “I know, I know, it’s just not _you_.”

He shrugged, and then picked up his katana to resume polishing it.

A minute sorrowful smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. “Can’t say I didn’t try though.”

“I know, bro,” Michelangelo said greatfully.

Leonardo’s poured himself into his work, his strokes harder and more purposeful than they had been before.

Michelangelo noted the hurt that lined his brother’s features. _I’d bet my shell he’s thinking about Lotus. Here I am so wrapped up in myself...and I totally brought up a sore point for my bro. Way to go Michelangelo._

“She’ll come back, dude,” Michelangelo said softly.

“No.” Leonardo shook his head sharply, knowing instantly who Michelangelo was referring to. His next words sounded exhausted, as if all the energy had been drained from him. “She won’t. She went back to Japan.”

“But, that doesn’t --”

“Enough.” Leonardo said with an uncustomary harshness, the single word full of finality. “Pizza’s done, anyways,” he added flatly as the timer beeped.

Michelangelo nodded numbly and proceeded to get the pizza out of the oven. As he opened the door, the heat from the oven blasted his face, sending the pizza’s enticing aroma into the air of the room. Patience, especially when hungry and emotional, had never been a strong point for Michelangelo, so he had to hold himself back from slicing the pizza as the mozzarella bubbled invitingly before him. Leonardo had even picked an amazing topping combo: asparagus and marshmallow sauce. The leader tended to like healthier fare to cover his pizzas, but would throw in a junkier topping from time to time, and it looked like this was one of those instances.

“After the pizza cools some, would you mind taking some to Donatello in his lab?” Leonardo spoke up as Michelangelo took a seat back at the table.

The leader was clearly trying to change the subject, but the orange masked turtle chose not to mention it.

“He’s working on some important project or another and I don’t want him to forget to eat again.”

Michelangelo shot him an “ok” sign with a hand and said, “Sure, dude, no problemo. Maybe I’ll ask if the brainiac if he has any notions for Kala while I’m in there.”

Leonardo raised a dubious eyebrow ridge and replied, “Out of the four of us, Michelangelo...I would think he would be the last one to ask about advice on your girlfriend. His life is his science.”

Michelangelo raised from his seat and grabbed the pizza cutter. “Au contraire, dude...Donatello feels way more than he lets on,” Michelangelo said evenly, as if this should have been common knowledge for the leader.

Curiosity piqued, Leonardo placed down his katana. “What do you mean?”

Michelangelo placed a slice of pizza on the table for Leonardo, who graciously accepted it.

“What I mean, bro,” Michelangelo explained as he swallowed a bite of pizza. “Is that the Don-ster does seem like a distant dude, but under all that techno talk and brainy stuff, there’s a lot going on that he never says. He’s, like, a pizza box dude. Under that cardboard is a mondo radical pizza that you’d never know was there unless you knew to look.”

Leonardo’s eyes widened slightly.

“Wow, Michelangelo….that’s...deep.”

Michelangelo shrugged nonchalantly, indicating that he thought it was no big deal.

As much as Donatello and Raphael took playful jabs at Michelangelo’s intelligence at times, Leonardo had to admit that his youngest brother had an emotional insight that the rest of them often took for granted. Although he would never mention it out loud, in a way, Leonardo envied him in that aspect. Leonardo had been working over the years with Splinter to try to hone this in himself, and it came naturally to the brother who didn’t put much stock in his ninja training besides what was expected of him. But on the other hand, Michelangelo’s empathy and optimism had proven to be a very strong glue for the group, a sunshine in times of darkness, and Leonardo would not have it any other way.

“Never change, Michelangelo,” Leonardo said fondly as Michelangelo gathered some of the pizza and a cup of coffee for Donatello.

“Back at cha, bro,” Michelangelo grinned as he turned to leave. “And for what it’s worth, dude, Lotus just needs to find herself. You will see her again.”

Leonardo sighed. He wished he could believe Michelangelo in that regard, but he found that as much as he tried, he couldn’t. He didn’t respond, and went back to polishing his katana.

On his way to the bedrooms, Michelangelo passed by Raphael who was busy shouting in protest at the TV when the contestant on the game show he was watching got the wrong answer.

Michelangelo paused in the middle of the common area, at the center of their bedrooms. His eyes flickered to Donatello’s room, and then to his own.

 _There’s something I need to do first._ Michelangelo pondered as he went into his room.

He placed down the pizza and coffee on his bookshelf and picked up a piece of paper and a pen. He sat down on his bed and tapped the pen thoughtfully on his chin before bringing it down to the paper. His trembling hand began to write in long unused kanji. Michelangelo and his brothers always conversed in English, and while Splinter had taught them Japanese, it had never come very easily to Michelangelo.

He wrote the first two words and held up the paper to examine his handiwork before he continued.

“ _Dear Lotus_ …”

**Author's Note:**

> Episodes referenced here concerning Raphael... The House of HaHa is from “Raphael Knocks’m Dead” and Raphael hating his birthday comes from “Mr. Nice Guy”. Mona Lisa is from “Raphael Meets His Match”.


End file.
